Change is Coming

“As we approach the trade deadline…will be focused on adding young, competitive players…this may mean we lose some familiar faces.” Those words from the letter clearly spell out the Rangers intent and the raising of the white flag for this season.

Placing defenseman, Brendan Smith on waivers (he cleared), putting Marc Staal on IR, and calling up young blue-liners Neal Pionk and John Gilmour to replace them sends a clear signal for what’s coming next…trades.

On the Move

Rick Nash will fetch a decent return featuring a late 1st round pick. Michael Grabner may get a 1st round pick, but a high second seems more probable. Nick Holden will likely see a mid to late round pick, and David Desharnais a late pick as well. All are UFA’s and considered rentals, so teams won’t overreach for any, even Nash. Remember, Evander Kane is also available, as is Max Pacioretty. This hurts Nash’s overall value, making what the Rangers did yesterday all the more important to start a bidding war early.

The real sign that this is a rebuild and not some retool, will be the trading of Mats Zuccarello at the deadline. If Zuccarello is moved, then you know that this is serious. Also, Ryan McDonagh is their most valuable commodity and will speed up the rebuild clock.

The tricky thing is this, unless a team like Toronto is willing to give up a proven young offensive talent like Mitch Marner or William Nylander, it is best to keep McDonagh. His value would likely be much higher at the draft and could be a centerpiece in trading up for the 1st overall pick, depending on who has it.

The Future of Alain Vigneault

After the Rangers loss to Boston, I had heard from decent sources that it was the last straw. In essence, Alain Vigneault and this Rangers team were done.

Hearing chatter that the general consensus in the #NYR org that AV is done. They need to decide if it’s better to fire now or wait till season over. If now, Ruff likely interim.

Then news broke that the Rangers were holding a press conference and I was certain that AV was done. Instead, the Rangers did something much bigger. They announced that this team wasn’t good enough and that they are going to rebuild. If you read in between the lines and their refusal to comment on AV’s future beyond this season, you realize a change behind the bench is imminent too.

So why not let him go now? Maybe the better questions is, why let him go now? There’s really no point. Firing AV and replacing him with Lindy Ruff on an interim basis doesn’t help the team in any way. There is the outside chance that they would like to see how Vigneault handles the kids on the roster now and after the deadline, but it’s well known that AV is a veteran’s coach.

Now let’s look at it from his standpoint? There are likely to be some big job openings next year that he may want to pursue. If the rumors in Chicago that Joel Quenneville is done are true, AV may want to go there. AV is looking to win a Cup himself and may not be interested in a rebuild. Did anyone ever think of that? I assume many did not.

The Rangers know that if they really want to rebuild, a new, younger coach is likely the answer.

Who Mans the Helm?

McCambridge (AHL)

You hear names like Dave Tippet and Daryl Sutter all the time, but for what the Rangers are looking to do, it may behoove them to bring in fresh blood. Let’s take a look at some of the names we expect to compete and make the roster next year.

Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, Anthony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk, John Gilmour, Sean Day, Ryan Graves, and Ryan Gropp. What do they almost all have in common? Playing for Hartford coach, Keith McCambridge. His philosophy is simple enough that success with young players shouldn’t be a problem. He wants each and every player to put in the work every time they take the ice, and that includes practice.

The Wolf Pack are 22-20-4 in his first season as coach. This doesn’t seem great, but last year the Pack were an atrocious 24-46-4. Much of this credit goes to McCambridge and he deserves it.

I am only mentioning McCambridge because many of the Rangers younger players are familiar with him, but there are a plethora of choices to be had. What needs to happen next is both Jeff Gorton and Glen Sather must start their research and line up candidates to interview as soon as the season ends.

The rebuild is about to begin, and with that the end of Alain Vigneault as the Rangers head coach. It’s inevitable.

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2 comments

Gorton n Sather must start their research? I’m not so sure Sather shouldn’t be starting his own research to replace Gorton. I really feel bad for AV cause I feel like the team got taken away from him little by little and then with this years injuries and especially at a time where we went on the road and have been playing some of the best teams it really fell apart. Now maybe he don’t wanna deal with a rebuild anyway but it still sucks I say. I really don’t wanna see that mug of Sutter’s behind the bench every night. It’s the question I ask so many AV haters that never gets answered “who do you want to coach”. I gotta say on one hand I’m excited about the idea of rebuild and on the other hand I’m scared shit that we’re gonna see some ridiculous trades or terrible picks with the ones we acquire from the trades all followed up with getting a coach that stinks. This might sound like a paronoid fan but anyone who’s been watching the Rangers as long as me knows it’s not being paranoid, it’s just being a Rangers fan. Funny thing is a while ago it wouldn’t be that big of a deal cause I didn’t have that much hope of expectations anyway. But since the guy they’re firing AV got here the team has been exciting and won a lot of hockey games. Fans complain about him playing the vets too much yet it’s funny how as we lose those vets like MSL. Richards, Stepan,Girardi and even the Boyle brothers Dan n Brian lol we’ve been winning less games each year. Well I guess fans will get what they wanted now. We’ll see all the kids that AV hated play more now that it’s rebuild time. I’m just so anxious to see how great they all think it is while we go through the tough times.